CIV Superbike Misano Race 2: Tulovic wins as a wild card, Delbianco out

B-Max Racing one-two with Tulovic winning ahead of Rinaldi in CIV Superbike Race 2 at Misano, Delbianco out immediately.

Lukas Tulovic: remember him? European Moto2 Champion in 2022 with a far-from-memorable stint in the world series, over the past two years he’s revived his career prospects with Ducati at home. The reigning Euro Moto (IDM) Champion with a chance this year to repeat the title he claimed last season, the Eberbach native shook up CIV Superbike, taking a stunning win as a wild card in Race 2 at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.

Called up by the B-Max Racing Team, Lukas Tulovic needed little time to get to grips with the Ducati Panigale V4 prepared to CIV Superbike specs. A superb third yesterday in the iconic Racing Night, he did even better in this Race 2. Running second for long stretches behind a flying Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Tulovic made the winning move on lap twelve of the 14 scheduled, taking over at Tramonto. From that moment on, he broke away to the victory, capitalizing on his teammate’s misfortunes. Once again slowed by technical issues on his Ducati V4 with the win within reach, the international Superstock 1000 Champion had to settle for another second place, completing the B-Max Racing one-two.

The second CIV Superbike race didn’t lack drama. At the start, Alessandro Delbianco, winner of the Racing Night and championship leader, went down at the Variante del Parco, taking the blameless Christian Gamarino with him. Fortunately both riders escaped unhurt from the pile-up, but the repercussions on the title fight are inevitable. With a second DNF in the last four races, the reigning Italian Champion sees his lead shrink to 32 points over Samuele Cavalieri (6th at the flag). Not a reassuring margin heading into the next round at Cremona. "DB52" might be forced to skip the Endurance World Championship finale just to defend the CIV Superbike lead...

With Delbianco out of the picture, the fight for third went to Luca Bernardi, who got the better of Gabriele Giannini, fourth as the top Honda rider despite a Long Lap Penalty for track limits. Another strong result for the double Italian Champion in Supersport 300 and Supersport, who returned at Imola with a family-run Aprilia RSV4 1100 RR after an injury in pre-season testing. Among the positives of Race 2 were also Luca Vitali (Vitali Racing Team), fifth ahead of the BMWs of Emanuele Pusceddu (7th) and Riccardo Russo (9th after a charge from 20th on the grid), with Kevin Manfredi in between. CIV Superbike will be back in action the weekend of September 18-20 at the Cremona Circuit, a debut venue on the calendar. With a big question: will Alessandro Delbianco sacrifice the Bol d’Or to take part in the fifth and penultimate round of Italy’s top class?